GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team honored its six seniors and then got down to business, claiming a 3-set (25-18, 25-20, 25-19) Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and Senior Night victory over the visiting Westminster University Griffins on Tuesday night in Brownson Arena.  The Mavericks received a significant contribution from all six of their seniors and the other five others who saw in action in the balanced victory, their 13^th consecutive this season and their 19th straight over the Griffins dating back to 2015.
 
CMU ranked 14^th in the latest national poll, improved to 21-3 overall and to 11-1 in conference play while the Griffins dropped to 10-13 overall and to 6-6 in conference action further slipping into a multiple-team fight for the remaining spots in next week's  8-team RMAC Tournament.
 
They are now tied with Western Colorado for seventh in the conference standings, just a match ahead of three other teams, who have 5-7 records.
 
The Mavericks are in second and just a half-match behind national poll No. 5 MSU Denver, which has an 12-0 conference record heading into a weekend road trip to Western Colorado and Fort Lewis.  The Roadrunners won a 4-set Tuesday night make-up match at UCCS to maintain their conference lead.
 
On Tuesday, CMU fifth-year senior setter Sabrina VanDeList tallied 31 assists and nine digs to lead the balanced victory.  In the process, she became the first Maverick in program history to surpass the 1,000 assist mark in four different seasons, recording an RMAC-leading 1,020 and counting during this campaign.
 
Meanwhile, her favorite hitter and fellow senior Sydney Leffler recorded a match-high 12 kills from the outside.  Another fifth-year Mav in right side Sierra Hunt also put down eight kills and three blocks.
 
Senior defensive specialist Jordan Woods recorded a team-leading 10 digs, just one off her season-high while fifth-year senior Hahni Johnson tallied eight digs and a season-high three of the Mavs' five service aces while completing two extended serving runs to allow the Mavs to close out the first two sets of Tuesday's win.
 
Middle Stormi Tadlock, the sixth Maverick senior, also shined matching a season-high with six blocks while recording seven kills on the offensive end.
 
Sophomore middle hitter Nicole Martin also chipped in to the cause, recording 10 ten kills on .625 hitting, increasing her RMAC-leading attack percentage to .390.
 
The Mavericks simply had too many weapons for the Griffins, finishing with a 42-31 kill advantage and a 49-42 dig advantage.  Five different Mavericks had seven or more kills while the Griffins had just one in Claire Cook, who finished with seven.
 
Similarly, the Mavericks had five players with seven or more digs, somewhat countered by Griffin libero Alanna Lee, who had a nice night with 17 digs.
 
The Mavericks finished the match hitting .255 as a team while the Griffins hit just .092.
 
Both teams finished with five aces, six service errors and six blocks.
 
The Mavericks proved to be superior in the late going of Sets 1 and 2 and then controlled the third frame from the start, while cruising to what was their 11^th home win in 12 Brownson Arena appearances this season.
 
The first and second sets were both tied on 11 separate occasions.
 
However, CMU used a 7-0 run with Johnson behind the service line in the first set to break open what was a 17-17 tie.  Taking a 24-17 lead on a Martin kill, the Mavs committed a service error before a Griffin hitting error gave the Mavericks the opening set.
 
CMU is now 24-0 in the opening frame this season.
 
The second set story proved to be similar as the teams battled all the way to an 18-18 deadlock before the Mavs finished the set on a 7-2 spurt, with Johnson servicing three of those points.  Hunt also had two kills in that stretch as the Mavericks ended up winning the set by five points.
 
The Mavericks then jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third and quickly extended it to 11-5 with Woods behind the service line.
 
The Mavs then continued to add on to the lead, taking a 24-15 lead on a crowd-pleasing Hunt and Tadlock block.  The Griffins were able to fight off four match-points but could not get any closer as Hunt and Tadlock again blocked the Griffins to complete the match.
 
The Mavericks will look to continue their winning ways this weekend in South Dakota.  They will play Black Hills State (5-19, 1-11 RMAC) on Friday at 2 p.m. in Spearfish before facing South Dakota Mines (16-8, 9-3 RMAC) on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Rapid City.  The Hardrockers are in third place, just behind the Mavericks in the RMAC standings.
 
CMU is a combined 23-1 all-time against the South Dakota foes.
 
Already guaranteed of a top four seed, CMU will then return home to host a RMAC Tournament quarterfinal next Tuesday (Nov. 19) at 6 p.m. against a yet to be determined opponent.